Domesticated buffalo are supposedly placid, but this one at Urgam, high in the Indian Himalaya, had a mean look. I kept my distance. In the background [L to R], one of the men who accompanied us on our visit to Engineer Baba, with Dr M and Mr S talking to one of the villagers. Mr S founded the school at Urgam and used to teach there, which was clearly one of the major reasons we were welcomed so warmly.All content © 2009 Pete McGregor
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7 comments:
Any animal can be aggressive, and this one has an uncannily intelligent look in it's eye.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8134778.stm
Thanks Zhoen. A cow with a calf is something I'd be very careful around. Domestic bulls can be dangerous too. But I still maintain the most dangerous animal in New Zealand — and probably throughout much of the world — is the house dust mite.
beautiful animal. i wish some people were as noble as this beast is. great shot tho quite desaturated... or cloudy :P I like the hay on its head. thank you for sharing it with us.
P.S. the dust-mite? really? :P
Thanks D.V.A. I deliberately desaturated it; the straight colour version I found unpleasant and not effective in conveying the feel of the moment. However, a straight black-and-white conversion didn't work well, so I selectively desaturated some colours and toned down the contrast.
Yes, allergens from house dust mites are a major trigger for asthma (possibly the most important trigger) and other diseases; the cost to the economy of diseases related to dust mites is huge — and asthma in particular kills many people every year.
I've been told eucalyptus kills dust mites. I put a few drops in my laundry.
Zhoen, I'm not sure how effective that would be, but I'm sure it'd do no harm. However, the main source of dust mite allergens is bedding — mattresses in particular. Good old direct sunlight is fairly effective at keeping dust mite populations low, but that's not always possible. Actually, the most effective treatment for mattresses is a dose of liquid nitrogen, but that has obvious drawbacks ;^)
Vacuuming is effectively useless unless you're prepared to do it twice a day. Dehumidifiers can reduce humidity to levels below optimum for dust mite population growth, but they struggle to maintain that low humidity for long enough to effect good control. Caffeine, permethrin and a plethora of other substances kill dust mites, but the problem is about controlling mite populations at low enough levels to deliver clinical benefits.
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